


A Vacation From Everything (except each other)

by HungryLibrary



Category: Splatoon
Genre: F/F, Fluff, More Fluff, There's no real plot it's just fluff, inspired by the eu splatfest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-06-28 07:39:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15702795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HungryLibrary/pseuds/HungryLibrary
Summary: Pearl wants some adventure. Marina plans to relax.They end up building sand castles, being stupidly in love, and having a very personal and important Moment in maybe the weirdest way possible.





	A Vacation From Everything (except each other)

Pearl stood at the door of the luxury suite and did a final check for today’s to-do list.

Wear comfortable shoes? Check.

Pack an energy drink to put an extra spring in her step and keep her from collapsing like that one time? Check.

Grab some cash for snacking and souvenir shopping?

Pearl flicked through the thick wad of bills in her wallet, then shrugged and shoved the whole mess in her shorts pocket. No real point counting when her spare change would probably enough to buy out any store she stumbled into.

Now, for the last but seriously most important thing on her list…

Trotting over to the sliding glass doors Pearl poked her head out and hollered down the beach.

“Hey Marina! You sure you’re not comin’ with!?”

The dark shape lying sprawled on a beach chair lifted a lazy hand, saluting Pearl with her coconut drink.

“The day’s adventures are all yours, Pearlie.” Marina called back, a bit of Octoling zing slipping into her voice the way it did when she was feeling dozy and heading for a nap. “I’ve just found heaven on earth and not even a Salmon Run could get me to move right now.”

Pearl frowned at the her, then at the waves lapping less than ten feet from her girlfriend’s chosen spot.

“Yeah okay, but you’ll move if the tide comes in right?” She edged a step out the glass doors, fighting the urge to drag Marina and her chair to safer ground- Like up a sand dune or inside the suite.

“You haven’t seriously forgotten the whole we-dissolve-in-toxic-seawater thing, right?”

Marina’s drink bobbed as she shrugged. “A quick dip feels kinda nice, actually. Sorta tingly and invigorating. Thanks for showing me that by the way.”

Pearl made a face.

“That prank was supposed to scare the _fuck_ out of you so you’d stay _away_ from the sea.”   

“Well I guess it didn’t work~” Marina sing-songed happily.

Grumbling Pearl scuffed her heel against the floor. She held herself back for another minute, then sighed and kicked off her shoes before stomped out onto the beach.

Marina looked up from the book in her lap as Pearl passed by.

“Pearlie? Um, the sea bathing thing was just a personal opinion, I didn’t mean you needed to try it.”

“I’m not going in the stupid gunked-up water.” Flopping down on her knees Pearl started digging into the sand.

“I’m tryna make sure the girl of my dreams doesn’t fall asleep and let herself get melted while I’m off actually seeing the sights and shit. No point in me buying a buncha vacation themed junk if I’ve gotta chuck them in the ocean to give them to you.”

Scooping out a rut in the beach Pearl pushed the small mound of wet sand into place in front of Marina.

It was a very small mound of sand. And a very shallow rut.

This was gonna take a while.

Tucking back into her work Pearl only half heard the creak of the beach chair as Marina sat up curiously.

“What are doing though, exactly? Is there some sort of defense system buried under the beach?”

Pearl grinned. “Naw, but I’m building one. Or I probably am anyway, it’s been a while.”

There was a soft snap of a book being closed. Then a patch of wonderful shade fell over Pearl. Glancing up she saw Marina kneeling next to her, dark rosy-brown skin glowing in the sun and seafoam green eyes thoughtful.

“… are you trying to build a moat and wall?”

“Yeah.”

The shade was nice but it didn’t change the fact that it was roughly ten degrees above hellish out here.

“A really dinky moat and wall at this rate, unless I pile my fried corpse on top for a few extra inches.”

A laugh, Marina’s elbow nudged her gently in the ribs as the Octoling reached out and scooped up more than twice as much sand as Pearl had been managed so far.

“There’s a bucket of ice back in the room which would make a pretty good shovel if you emptied it.” Marina the engineer pointed out.

“Right!” Leaping to her feet Pearl paused, a brilliant idea of her own coming to mind.

“Right.. yeah.” She smirked and drop a kiss on the top of Marina’s head, both to throw off suspicion and because she could never resist smooching Marina on those rare times when Pearl at least _felt_ like she was the taller one. “Be right back.”

Five minutes later she was back.

Five minutes and ten seconds later she got her Octoling girlfriend to look up with a tap on the shoulder and caught Marina in a slow kiss.

The kind of kiss that left time holding it’s breath as the world faded out around them. The kind that let Pearl feel when Marina’s hearts skipped a beat. The kind of kiss, in short, that made Pearl really greatful for her time a metal screamer and the wonders it’d done to her lung capacity.  

Ten and a half minutes later Pearl broke the kiss and pressed her forehead to Marina’s, trying and failing to hide a grin. Marina stared up at her, dazed. “Pearlie?”

Pearl shifted so she could whisper in the Octoling’s ear.

“ _Ice ice, baby._ ”

Marina blinked. “What- AOOWAAAAH!!”

An earsplitting shriek shattered the quite of the beach.

Pearl was impressed but not surprised. She’d just dropped a handful of ice cubes down Marina’s back, after all.  

“ _PEARL!_ ”

The culprit was still cackling when Marina wrestled her down and started burying her in the half finished moat, growling stuff in Octatian the whole way that probably weren’t compliments or poetry.

Committing a few of the Octarian curses to memory, Pearl leaned back and relaxed as the sandy hill grew over her.

They’d only been here a few hours but this vacation was already the _best_ one of Pearl’s life.

 

* * *

 

It was late afternoon by the time Pearl was granted freedom and the Marina Trench plus Great Wall of Pearl were finally finished.

“There.” Pearl dusted off her hands as she looked over their creation. “That should buy you like, maybe a whole two seconds of escape time in case of random tidal waves.”

Marina hummed appreciatively. “Two seconds should be more than plenty of time to super jump away.”

Looking around the Octoling smiled and thumbed off a smudge of sand off Pearl’s jaw.

She hesitated.

“Pearl…”

There was something in her face, a soft light in her eyes, that made Pearl’s heartbeats boom in her chest- Waiting for Marina to make the move first, wondering what she was hesitating, wondering why her own pulse was going like a drum-

Leaning down Marina pressed a quick kiss to Pearl’s cheek before straighten up again.  

“Thanks for thinking of me, Pearlie.”

Holy. _Cod._

“Uh- sure. No problem.”

The sun was getting to Pearl. That was why her face was suddenly so hot.

“It’s just, you know, a hole in the ground. But whatever. Anytime.”

Wow the fuck, what was _that?_ Was the sun _frying_ her _brain_ or something!?

Marina was smiling at her again, that weird soft light still shining though. And if Pearl had thought that the sun was hot before then oh boy she had _no_ clue what word to use for how her girlfriend looked right then.

She had to get out of here. Right now, before she starting something that would get them banned for life from every public beach in the world.

Swallowing hard Pearl torn her eyes away and gestured weakly at Marina’s newly fortified beach chair.

“You, uh, you have fun chilling with your book and stuff. I’ll text you about all the neat shit your missing out on, yeah?”

That got a cheery nod and a change in the air from whatever it’d been to something more normal.

“And I’ll snap you pictures of all the cool drinks you could be having as you trek around during the hottest part of the day.” Marina promised. “Now I have my very own ‘sand castle’, I’ll be able to gloat over you in style.”

Pearl grinned, the tension of the tension evaporating in an instant.

“Sounds fresh. Catch you later.”

She was almost off the beach and back to suite when a shout from Marina made her look round.

“Pearlie!” Marina called. “Try not to get into any real trouble, okay? Stay _off_ the hook!”

Oh hell no she didn’t just-

Laughing Pearl pointed up at the sun still blazing high in the sky.

“I will if you promise not to get your cute butt _cooked!_ ”

 

* * *

 

An hour later Marina’s smile was just as bright as ever and the book in her lap was still open to chapter one.

Her cephala-phone, on the other hand, was being buried under a mountain of chats.

Pearl was making good on her threat to liveblog every minute of her adventures and Marina was honestly really glad for the texts. Even if keeping up with them _did_ make reading anything else impossible.

**\- - -**

**< 3 Pearlie <3 > **leaving main street, heading off the beaten path!

 **You >** PLEASE don’t get lost

-

It wouldn’t be the first time if she did.

Whether due to being too short to see street signs over crowds of people, or being too stubborn to asked for directions, or deliberately taking random turns just for the ‘thrill’ of not knowing where she’d end up, Pearl had a habit of calling Marina and proudly announcing that she had no idea where she was.

Sometimes Marina’s only answer was to triangulate Pearl position using her phone and then send her coordinate along with a map.

If Pearl sent her an _‘i’m so fucking lost haha’_ text today though, Marina knew she’d be out the door and hunting down her girlfriend on foot in less than a hearts’ beat.

Fiddling with her phone Marina kinda hoped Pearl _would_ get a lost for a bit today.  

It would be the perfect excuse to see her again.

Sighing Marina rubbed at her face with her free hand, hiding her blush even though there was no one around to see.

_I’m such a SAP…_

-

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **hey this old granny is like flagging me down

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **oh hey brand recognition she recognizes me. says hi to you too btw

 **You >** Hello~!

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **heh granny says you’re a ‘sweet young lady’

 **You >** Aww <3

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **she wants me to come in her shop for a bit. think she feels bad I’m out here all on my own when I have such a cute gf I could be hanging with, if only she were here…

 **You >** If(BlatantFlatteryAndImpliedPuppyEyes)

 **You >** { denied(); }

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **lol wtf

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **i’m entering the granny shop. prepare for pics of fancy china and lace

 **You >** I could use another tea cup…

-

After five minutes of vaguely skimmed book pages and no answer, Marina felt herself get just a little worried.

-

 **You >** Pearlie?

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **BWAHAHA IT’S A SEX TOY SHOP!

 **You >** Seriously!?

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **yeah and holy shit does granny have the goods ;)

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **she says I should pick something out for my nice young lady -wink- friend -wink wink-

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **get the feeling us tryna date on the lowdown isn’t working

 **You >** Oh sweet jellyfish……

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **either that or she’s a shipper

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **hey quick question which squid sister is your fav?

 **You >** I’m not answering that for SO many reasons

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **nvmd got you both

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **wonder how famous we have to get before I can stumble into a store and see a me-colored dildo

 **You >** NO

 **You >** NO BUYING ANYTING SQUID SISTER RELATED!!!!!!!

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **its cool they’re inflatable we’ll just sick them in the pool or something

 **You >** Oh my cod pearl you better be joking

 **You >** If Callie or Marie ever hear about this I’m rebuilding Tartar’s giant blender and sticking myself in it

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **they’d probs take it as a compliment

 **You >** Oh fuck what if Eight finds out!?!?

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **hey Octokid’s sixteen, gotta learn the facts of life eventually

 **You >** FUCK

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **yep

 **You >** Auo waa’a!

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **are you cussing me out in Octoling? have you guys been swearing when you get splatted this whole time??

 **You >** I hate you so much

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **pfft get in line B)

 **You >** The fact that I’m also in love with you only increases my rage

-

Marina stared down at her phone’s screen, thumb still pressed over the ‘send’ button.

‘The fact that I’m also _in love with you_ …’

“Oh.”

She’d never said that before, had she? In a chat or face-to-face. Love, yes. _In_ love- No, that had always felt too big, too potentially awkward, too frightening to be the first one to say.

Except now she’d gone and said it.

“ _Shit._ ”

And with every second that scrapped past without any answer from Pearl, she desperately wished she could un-say it.

-

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 >** marina

-

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **fuck you I can’t believe you just made me blush inside a fucking sex shop. you’ve ruined my life  

 **You >** Good

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **love you too btw

 **You >** Thanks

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **i mean like I’m head over heels and shit, not a crush or whatever. like in-love love

-

Marina’s brain short-circuited. She literally felt it happen.  

-

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **Uh you can forget I said that if you want to

 **You >** Pearl I just responded to ‘I love you’ with ‘thanks’ are you sure you don’t want to rethink this?

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **ok

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **i’m thinking you’re cute as hell and I’m even more totally in love

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **how’s that? BD

 **You >** …

-

Rolling over Marina flopped limply down onto the sand with a ‘thwump’ and buried her face in her arms, one hundred percent unable to process any of this.

Relaxing. She was supposed to be relaxing on this trip.

It was kinda hard to do that with her heart beats hammering through her veins and her stomach giddily flip-flopping around so much it felt like it was going to break free at any moment and go dancing off across the beach without her.

“She’s in love with me?” Marina asked the grains of sand. “… did I fall asleep while reading again?”

She pinched herself to check.

Sure felt pretty real. Which meant Pearl was still waiting for a reply.

Slowly, hesitatingly, Marina picked up her phone again and started to type. She hit send and started typing again before she could even think about it.

-

 **You > **It’s good

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **cool!

 **You >** But I am never, EVER going to forgive you for us having this conversation while you’re in a coddammed sex shop

-

 **< 3 Pearlie <3 > **that’s fair


End file.
